latest articles

Believe It or Not

Believe It or Not

Breathe Laser Therapy claims to have a better way to help smokers kick the habit. CEO Rick Diamond intends a national rollout. All that stands in the way is a little credibility issue and a treatment method that “sounds like voodoo.”
A Fresh Revenue Source

A Fresh Revenue Source

With a new, proprietary product line, Burnsville’s Valley Natural Foods co-op is looking to a bigger market.
Joint Effort

Joint Effort

At OrthoCor, a venture capitalist and an electrical engineer create “a next-generation heating pad” for troubled knees.

Transom (4)

Iconoculture founders Mary Meehan and Vickie Abrahamson have left their Minneapolis market research firm
Further to Fall

Further to Fall

Stu Utgaard was the Twin Cities’ biggest dealmaker in the ’80s and ’90s, a master of M&A. Then he made his own acquisition, Sportsman’s Warehouse, and built a single store into a $718 million retail chain. So how did Utgaard wind up buried under $31 million in personal debt?
21st Century Watkins Man

21st Century Watkins Man

What would lure Mark Jacobs (Irwin Jacobs’ son) from Manhattan to Winona to run an old-fashioned door-to-door business? The chance to apply entrepreneurial liniment to a tired, aching brand.